


strawberry milk

by katsuk1



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: (also if ur wondering), (donghyuck is based off dowoon's character and mark is based off brian's character ;))), High School AU, I LOVE DAY6 BTW STAN DAY6 STAN TALENT, M/M, No worries, Oh yes, Swearing, YELL AT ME ON MY TUMBLR @LEEMINHYUNG, also, also hello if u came from tumblr, also herin and mark are best friends :'))), also rich kid!hyuck is implied, and hyuck being emo, and like everyone else is just there, and u guessed it, but yes, but yes anyways enjoy, donghyuck is vvv quiet and mark is vvv much a fuckboy, his parents are never there ;;;, i forgot to mention yiyang and ning ning but theyre there i promise ;;;;;;;, i need to stop using so many tags, i was listening to 'i loved you' while writing this, implied renmin i guess??, is it renmin, it's a lil angsty but, it's ok tho he's sweet, just a few tears, just go with it, lami and jisung are both freshmen, like herin and mark are both seniors, not really but it's like one split second if that floats ur boat, or jaejun, so like i dont know bro, still apart of the sqUad i just didnt mention them ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;, their ages are weird, this was so based off the 'when you love someone' mv by day6, who knows it's jaemin x renjun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-22 21:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13175979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katsuk1/pseuds/katsuk1
Summary: in which mark and donghyuck find comfort in being lonely together.





	strawberry milk

Donghyuck digs up a couple coins from his back pocket and shoves them in the machine’s slot, blinking once, twice, when the screen lights up with bright colours and animations. It had been awhile since he had played any sort of driving games, or even gone to the arcade, but he found comfort in the busy rustling from children and teenagers alike, so he always made time to go back to the small place every once in awhile.

 

His hands rest at nine and three, ten and two, whatever he had to do to bump himself into first place. He steers the wheel casually, eyes glued to the screen that he doesn’t even dare blink, afraid that in the split second he closes his eyes, he’ll miss something, or turn the wrong way and lose himself the game entirely. He’s so immersed in the game that he doesn’t notice someone’s slipped in the seat for the game beside him.

 

A low whistle goes in through one of Donghyuck’s ears and out the other. He reaches into his back pocket again and rummages until he feels the metal of arcade tokens touch his skin, pulling them out to insert them in the slot again, but a low chuckle causes him to freeze.

 

“I don’t see you ‘round here often,” the voice beside him speaks. His words are laced with a teasing, almost degrading manner, but it’s nothing Donghyuck can’t take. “This your first time here?”

 

Donghyuck sits up smoothly and spares the person beside him a look. He locks eyes with him for a moment too long and it should be awkward, but the other boy is grinning and Donghyuck remains blank-faced. Donghyuck turns back to face the screen and slips the tokens in, hands back at nine and three so he can resume his game.

 

The boy beside him laughs a laugh that comes straight from his chest and it almost makes Donghyuck smile, but he doesn’t care enough. Instead, he grits his teeth together as he gets bumped to third place and stomps his foot down on the accelerator pedal to speed himself up recklessly.

 

“Not much of a talker, huh? I get that. That’s cool,” out of the corner of Donghyuck’s eyes, he can see the unnamed boy lean back in his seat. Donghyuck wonders for a second why he won’t just mind his own business and play his own game, but like many of the things he wants to say, he keeps them to himself.

 

Donghyuck lets a sigh escape his lips as he slumps back into his seat, mirroring the boy beside him. The big, bold words flashing across his screen read _“YOU LOSE”_ and Donghyuck is more than irked, to say the least. Nonetheless, he reaches into his pocket to grab more tokens but comes up with nothing. He reaches into his hoodie pockets to check too, but again, there’s nothing.

 

He pushes himself up from his seat to get more, but a hand on his arm holds him back. It’s a gentle grasp, one that Donghyuck could easily shake himself out of, but instead, he finds himself looking beside him, locking eyes with the same boy again.

 

Wordlessly, the boy brings a closed fist into Donghyuck’s line of vision and opens it face-up. It’s arcade tokens.

 

Donghyuck’s eyes flit downwards to the tokens and back to the boy. He has the same grin on his face and his soft brown eyes make Donghyuck shuffle. He leans forward to grab the coins from the boy’s palm, but before he can, the coins are taken away from him, retreating back into the closed fist.

 

“I’ll give you the tokens, but…” his grin grows into a smile, one that Donghyuck thinks might be brighter than all the game screens combined. “You have to talk to me first.”

 

Donghyuck tilts his head to the side, his lips remaining in a thin line. Swiftly, he gets up from his seat and takes out a ten-dollar bill to insert into the arcade token dispenser, stuffing the tokens into his jean pockets. When he gets back to the driving game, the boy is still there and his grin is still there too.

 

Donghyuck plays the game approximately nine more times before he decides that it’s time to go home. He stands up slowly, legs a little wobbly from sitting down for so long and the unnamed boy beside him just watches Donghyuck’s movements.

 

He stretches, a little sigh leaving his mouth as he does so and before he leaves, he casts a look behind him and looks straight into the other boy’s eyes. He lazily smiles, a tired one that barely reaches his eyes, but the unnamed boy returns it anyway, his small grin splitting into a chuckle that reveals his teeth.

 

Donghyuck flashes a half-assed peace sign, as a way of saying goodbye and in return, the boy waves a wave and a half.

 

“Mark!” the boy yells from across the arcade. People glance at him and give him weird looks, but this ‘Mark’ boy isn’t looking. “My name is Mark!”

 

Donghyuck grins and slips his earbuds on, putting a playlist on shuffle. He pushes the glass doors in front of him open and shoves his hands into his hoodie pockets, tapping his fingers on his phone case in time with the song’s rhythm.

  


✘

  


On Monday, he skips first period. It’s not because he intended to; he just slept past his alarm. It’s not like his parents will care anyway. They aren’t around to scold him or pester him about his grades, so it doesn’t exactly mean that Donghyuck’s going to get into trouble.

 

He thinks about this on his way to school and stops by a convenience store, spending twenty minutes scanning the milk aisle.

 

He leaves with a carton of strawberry milk and pepero.

  


✘

  


Donghyuck arrives at school halfway through lunch and his stomach rumbles when the smell of food wafts through the air and into his nose. He wonders if he should’ve stopped by the tteokbokki stand he passed, but he decides it’s too late now. He sips his strawberry milk slowly, pocketing his empty hand into his jacket, strolling past the tables filled with students that actually cared enough to arrive at school at the proper time today. Some of the chattering manages to infiltrate his wall of loud music and in response, Donghyuck just turns his music louder.

 

The halls are completely empty, with only a couple of students sprinkled through them here and there. You aren’t allowed in these parts of the halls during lunch, but people still eat there anyways. It’s not like any of the teacher’s care enough to discipline them.

 

Nobody cares enough.

  


✘

  


“Hey Donghyuck!”

 

School president and residential nice girl, Seo Herin greets him as they pass ways and the corners of Donghyuck’s lips quirk up instinctively. Herin rewards his small smile with an even bigger one, her dimples greeting him hello as well.

 

“Herin! Hey, I have your chem notes!” the voice is familiar and warm and it comes from down the hall. The halls are still relatively empty, a few more students piling in to retrieve their fourth period books and such, so if Donghyuck tried hard enough, he could squint and maybe see the face that came alongside the voice. But he didn’t, so he stood there like a sitting duck, waiting for the person connected with the voice to come closer.

 

The body from the end of the hallway runs towards Herin and Donghyuck, the sound of their sneakers stomping atop the marble floors mixing with the music coming from Donghyuck’s left earbud. He wonders when he had taken out the right one. Maybe it was when he saw Herin approaching and did so to look like he cared.

 

“Thanks again, you really saved my life,” the warm voice is here again, closer this time as the boy it belonged to is only about a meter away. Donghyuck drowns out their small talk, nothing of particular importance piquing his interest. The voice seemed so familiar, that Donghyuck could almost taste it, but he couldn’t quite wrap his head around it.

 

He can see Herin laughing, probably at something the boy said. It’s then when the boy finally looks Donghyuck’s way and their eyes lock.

 

It’s arcade boy.

 

“Hey…” the boy starts, the same grin as the other day slowly forming on his face. “Aren’t you the guy from the other day?”

 

“Oh, you two have met?” asks Herin, still smiling. “Mark, this is Donghyuck. Donghyuck, this is Mark. He’s a senior, so I didn’t know if you two had ever seen each other before.”

 

“Trust me,” Mark begins, his grin becoming a borderline smirk. “I wouldn’t miss such a pretty face.”

 

Donghyuck feels the blood from his heart threaten to rush to his cheeks and as if it was some sort of cue, he turns on his heels and speed-walks away from the two seniors. He pretends that he doesn’t hear Mark laugh when Herin scolds him for being too forward and b-lines to the boy’s washroom, splashing his face with cold water so he can rid himself of his red cheeks.

  


✘

  


He arrives to fourth period math with cheeks dusted a baby pink, Mark’s bold words still swishing through his head, like the last bits of strawberry milk in its bottle. Although the remnants of his blush are still there, his facial expressions remain blank so anyone who looked his way wouldn’t think twice. But his heart and his brain tell him two different things.

 

His brain reads: _stop thinking about it._

 

His heart reads: _“I wouldn’t miss such a pretty face.”_

 

Donghyuck thinks about it for the rest of the day.

  


✘

  


Donghyuck and Mark cross paths again on Wednesday, when they conveniently get into the lunch line together.

 

“Hey,” says Mark. Donghyuck isn’t looking, too focused on scooping rice onto his plate, but he can hear the everlasting grin in his voice. When will he _ever_ stop grinning?

 

Donghyuck fills his plate as fast as possible, but Mark is right there, finishing just seconds behind him and when Donghyuck slips out of the cafeteria to the school’s rooftop, Mark is right there too, trailing behind him.

 

“Do you always eat up here?”

 

 _Yes,_ Donghyuck thinks. His lips don’t move to respond, but they do open so he can shovel a spoonful of rice into his mouth.

 

Mark doesn’t seem to mind that he never gets an answer to his questions or even a reply for his words. He’s so persistent that it confuses Donghyuck to no end, because no one’s ever tried to have a conversation with him before and especially not someone who kept trying so hard.

 

“Yeah,” says Donghyuck plainly.

 

At the sound of Donghyuck’s high-pitched voice, Mark smiles something genuine and Donghyuck feels his cheeks redden, turning away to look down at the schoolyard over the railing to hide his face. If Mark notices his blush, he doesn’t point it out, but by the way he smirks, Donghyuck knows he knows.

 

“It’s nice up here,” Mark muses, leaning back in his plastic chair. He copies Donghyuck and glances over the railings. “The view’s nice too.”

 

Donghyuck doesn’t respond, but Mark doesn’t expect him to. He wanted to agree because he was right. The view _was_ pretty nice, especially after school when the sun began to set gingerly, hues of red and pink painting the once blue sky. But when he turns to look at Mark, just to steal a quick peek, Mark’s already looking at him and when Donghyuck realizes they weren’t talking about the same view, he swallowed thickly, leaving his lunch tray on his chair and bolting back inside the school.

  


✘

  


Mark joins Donghyuck for lunch on the rooftop everyday for the rest of the week.

  


✘

  


And everyday of the week after that.

  


✘

  


And everyday of the week after _that._

  


✘

  


“Are you and Donghyuck...” Herin eyes Mark wearily, like she isn’t sure if she’s allowed to approach this topic with him. “Like, you know…” Herin makes wild hand gestures with the hand that isn’t holding her lunch tray to explain what she means and Mark laughs, pretending to not understand.

 

“Sorry, I don’t get what you mean,” Mark beams, his eyes curling into crescents teasingly. Herin turns bright red and shoves him forcefully, which isn’t very forceful, and huffs.

 

“You know what I mean, you jerk!” Herin calms herself down and glances around the room quickly, hoping no one saw her quick outburst. Mark softens when he notices her worry.

 

“Herin, no one’s going to hate you if you aren’t always perfectly sweet and quiet,” he reassures, nudging her gently.

 

“I know,” she mutters, waiting for Mark to finish plating his food. “It just worries me sometimes.”

 

The two of them walk to Herin’s usual lunch table, Koeun, Hina, Jeno, and everyone else in the bunch greeting Mark happily.

 

“Hey!” Jaemin yells, a little too loud for Renjun to handle. He notices Renjun wince and shy away, so he wraps his arms around Renjun’s head lovingly. “Hey!” Jaemin whisper-yells the word this time, making Renjun and everyone else laugh.

 

“Wow, look who finally strayed away from his boyfriend to join us,” jokes Jeno, earning him a faux-threatening glare and a tsk.

 

“Donghyuck’s not my boyfriend, you dick,” Mark kicks Jeno’s shin from under the table and laughs.

 

“You still haven’t asked him out yet?” asks Koeun, stealing a spoonful of potatoes from Lami’s plate. She earns a swift slap on the wrist and she yelps, glaring at the younger girl.

 

“It’s too soon,” Mark shrugs, picking at his side dishes with his chopsticks. His eyes cast down slowly, a hint of melancholy twinging his words, but everyone pretends not to hear it, for his sake.

 

The group feels the sudden shift in mood, but Hina quickly diffuses it, standing up abruptly to point her chopsticks at Jisung, accusing him of stealing her last piece of kimchi.

 

Drama kids, Mark thinks, chuckling to himself.

 

He wonders if he made the right choice today, by giving Donghyuck some distance from him. He’s noticed that his presence has drained Donghyuck a little, so he thought that maybe some space would be good.

 

He just didn’t think he’d be missing him so much.

  


✘

  


Mark hadn’t bothered Donghyuck at all today, but he thought maybe that’s because Mark was going to bother him even more today at lunch.

 

When Donghyuck got in line for his food, he watched Mark walk in pace with Herin, just like the first time Mark did that to him. The two of them were laughing and playing around with each other the entire time. When Mark beamed at Herin with the biggest smile Donghyuck had ever seen Mark pull, his grip on his lunch tray tightens tenfold. His heart skips a beat, but it also pangs with a jealousy Donghyuck had never felt before.

 

His eyes follow Mark as he walks alongside Herin to the lively table that always made the most noise. Of course he was friends with them, Donghyuck thinks, almost bitterly. Donghyuck watches Mark laugh and talk joyfully with his friends, but all he can think of is the way he smiled at Herin and how they were so close.

 

He wanted Mark to smile at him like that.

 

Donghyuck casted one last longing look at Mark and bit his tongue, turning around swiftly to trudge his way up to the roof.

  


✘

  


Mark was back with Donghyuck today.

 

He had tried making conversation again with Donghyuck in the lunch line, but when Donghyuck looked at him with a look of resent instead of his regular blank stare, Mark is taken aback. He feels his mouth fill with sand and his heart transform into a ticking time bomb. Mark just couldn’t get his usual, witty words out.

 

Mark follows Donghyuck again, but they only get to the cafeteria doors before Donghyuck turns around sharply.

 

“Go back to your friends.”

 

Donghyuck turns around again, just as sharply and storms out, leaving Mark confused, lost, and completely and utterly hurt in a way Mark never thought he’d feel.

  


 

“I thought you went to eat with Donghyuck,” Jisung points to the cafeteria doors with his spoon as if to further drive the words into Mark’s heart.

 

Mark drops his tray down haphazardly, slumping down onto the chair. The tray dropping startles Chenle and causes him to look up from his phone. Mark knew it was a mistake that he did so because Chenle could read him like an open book, he could read _anyone_ like an open book. Thankfully, Chenle doesn’t say anything and instead opts to ask the obvious question.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

Mark bites his tongue and feels a heavy weight settle on his chest. He sighs, thinking that maybe that’ll get rid of it, but if anything, it just makes it worse.

 

Everyone stops eating, becoming too concerned with Mark’s situation to continue eating in peace and eventually, Mark spills his guts out to his friends. It’s a flurry of word vomit because Mark’s too confused and _heartbroken_ to collect himself any better and by the end of it, the weight on his chest grows even heavier now that he’s reexamined the situation.

 

“No,” Herin states stubbornly. “No, it’s alright. You can do this. If anyone could fix your love life, it’s you.”

 

“Herin’s right,” Jaemin sets his spoon down, resting his chin in the palm of his hands. They all turn their attention to Jaemin, who’s grinning like Mark didn’t just spill his heart out to him and everyone else. “Listen, you’re Mark Lee. You can do this, man.”

 

“And if you can’t, we’re here to help.” Chenle smiles reassuringly and slowly but surely, the weight is lifted off Mark’s chest. It’s at times like these where Mark is really thankful for his friends, even if they were losers sometimes.

 

A laugh slips out of Mark’s lips before he can stop it and all of a sudden, there are tears in his eyes. A chorus of _“don’t cry!”_ s circle around the table and playful nudges push Mark back and forth, left and right.

 

He really had the best friends in the world.

  


✘

  


The clock on Donghyuck’s phone reads 8:45 PM, something he ignores as he flops onto his bed stomach-down.

 

He ran out of ways to distract himself from the scene that happened today in the cafeteria. He’s been at the arcade for the past couple hours and maybe hoped once or twice that Mark would drop by and they’d meet again. He even hung around a bit after school to see if Mark would just so happen walk out the same time as he did.

 

Donghyuck feels his eyes sting with tears when he thinks about what happened again and stuffs his face into his pillow, declaring himself a lost cause.

  


✘

  


Donghyuck and Mark make eye contact again on Friday.

 

Mark smiles hesitantly, raising his hand a bit to wave. Donghyuck remains unchanged, his lips a thin line of no emotion. As he closes his locker, Donghyuck keeps full eye contact with Mark and only breaks apart when the bell rings, signaling the next period beginning and Donghyuck’s escape.

 

Mark drops his hand and with it, his heart.

  


✘

  


Donghyuck’s been going to the arcade more often than usual. Maybe it’s because if he’s not at the arcade, he’s home alone. There’s nothing he hates more than arriving home with no one to greet him hello or even to just be there in the house.

 

Being home makes him feel lonely and the arcade at least makes him feel like there are other people with him.

 

At first, he didn’t mind that his parents were gone so often. They still sent him money and sent him messages to check up on him, but after awhile, even the messages began appearing less and less. Donghyuck understood, but he didn’t _want_ to understand. He didn’t want to understand that work was more important to his parents than their son.

 

His train of thought makes him lose his game, ending in mere second and Donghyuck leans back in his seat, closing his eyes.

 

“Hey, kid,”

 

The voice is gruff and low. With just a sniff, Donghyuck can smell the overwhelming stench of booze and soju. He ignores the call that was clearly meant for him; maybe if he pretends the voice never existed in the first place, it’ll go away.

 

“Hey, I’m fucking talking to you!”

 

Donghyuck opens his eyes just in time to see the blur of a fist coming down too quickly for his liking onto his face. He shuts his eyes, bracing himself for an impact that never comes.

 

“Fucking watch it, dick,” it’s a new voice, but to Donghyuck, it’s all too familiar.

 

Donghyuck doesn’t even have to open his eyes to know who it is, but he does anyway, getting an eyeful of messy blond hair and a face that makes his breath hitch in his throat.

 

Mark has a hand on the guy’s shoulder and even though Donghyuck’s heart is pounding in his throat, when Mark looks over at him, the anger in his eyes melting into concern, Donghyuck’s heart stops moving altogether. Before he can think, Donghyuck dashes out of the arcade and doesn’t stop running until his lungs burn and his legs turn into jelly.

  


 

Donghyuck jabs the straw into his third carton of strawberry milk and takes a long sip. The music playing too loudly in his ears is happy and upbeat, but he feels too much like shit to think of anything cheerful right now. He feels like such a coward for running and leaving Mark to deal with his problem. He couldn’t help but wonder if Mark was okay, if the guy hurt Mark in any way, and most importantly, if Mark hated him now.  Mark was probably off somewhere, thinking about what an idiot Donghyuck was and here Donghyuck is, being the idiot he is outside of a 24/7 convenience store.

 

Before he knew it, the carton was fresh out of milk and Donghyuck reaches over to the last one.

 

“Hey, you got any left for me?”

 

Donghyuck freezes, tensing up as he watched Mark sit down in the seat across from him. His face is emotionless, but his heart beats another story, thumping faster and faster as Mark grins uneasily. Donghyuck can see Mark’s bleeding lip even in the terrible lighting provided by the store’s neon lights. They shone upon Mark’s face in a way that complimented his profile too well and it makes Donghyuck shift in his chair. When Mark turns to look at him with his big brown eyes, Donghyuck feels a breath leave his lips and drifts his eyes downwards.

 

His fingers were still locked on the last carton of strawberry milk, but he shuts his eyes tight and slides it across the table over to Mark.

 

“Thanks,” Mark chuckles, stopping to wince when he realizes that laughing (or any sudden movement) is a mistake. Donghyuck looks up again in time to see Mark in his brief moment of pain. The guilt rushes back to him and he sighs, his shoulders falling. He reaches into his jacket pocket, pulling out a small box of bandages and tossing it over to Mark silently.

 

The soft thud on the table followed by the rattle of bandages inside makes Mark look up from his milk, raising an eyebrow at the other boy. In return, Donghyuck turns his eyes away.

 

“KakaoTalk bandaids?” Mark breathes out a laugh and holds the box in his hands, setting the milk down. He takes a good look at them before looking back up at Donghyuck. He feels his heart soften and his grin dissolves until it’s nothing but a small tug of his lips, albeit still there. “Thanks, Donghyuck,”

 

They sit in silence for a few moments too long, and Donghyuck wishes he could just speak up and slice through the quietness with a couple words.

 

So he does.

 

“Sorry,” Donghyuck’s words come out softer than he means to, but he continues on anyway, mustering all the courage he can. “I didn’t mean to leave you like that,”

 

Mark snorts, looking off to the side. “It’s alright,” his fingers tap on the table in a rhythm unknown to Donghyuck. “Didn’t want you sticking around to see me beat that guy’s ass anyway,”

 

Donghyuck laughs. It falls out naturally, like fate meant for it to happen and somewhere in the back of his head, he believes that fate is one cruel (but helpful) motherfucker.

 

Mark feels something tug at his heartstrings when Donghyuck laughs so melodically like that and he feels like he could listen to him laugh for the rest of his life. He wants to keep looking at Donghyuck’s face when he’s so happy like that, when his smile reaches his eyes and makes them crinkle into half moons.

 

“I wanna make you laugh like that all the time,” it comes out of Mark’s mouth as if he was the main character of a drama and Donghyuck was the character he’s been in love with for too many episodes. It’s far from a confession, but by the way Mark looks so smitten, Donghyuck feels like it was basically a marriage proposal.

 

It takes a lot of willpower for Donghyuck not to say _I do,_ and instead, he smiles sincerely.

 

Mark laughs again, but it’s almost as if he’s laughing because he’s relieved and suddenly, Donghyuck is too.

  


✘

  


When Mark laces his fingers with Donghyuck’s the next day at lunch, leading him to his table of friends, Donghyuck can’t find any reason to object.

 

When Mark places a hesitant kiss on Donghyuck’s cheek before fourth period, Donghyuck can’t find any reason to object either.

 

And so, he lets Mark slowly weave himself into his daily routine.

 

Wake up, text Mark, go to school, meet with Mark before first period, go to class, sit with Mark and his friends for lunch, go to class, and then walk home with Mark.

 

Donghyuck thinks that’s a pretty great routine.

**Author's Note:**

> this fic was so self-indulgent istg
> 
> but hyuck became friends with the sQUaD at the end if u were wondering
> 
> the rest is up 2 ur imagination ;)))


End file.
